Councillor hires lawyer in road issue

A District of Lunenburg councillor has hired a lawyer in an effort to get access to a legal opinion provided to the municipality.

And that lawyer says he’ll consider legal action against the municipality if it doesn’t provide that report to Coun. Terry Dorey.

Dorey wants to see legal opinions provided to the municipality concerning its right-of-way, known as Veinot Road, which is an access road to Sherbrooke Lake near New Germany.

The province transferred that road to the municipality through a quit claim deed in 2001 but, after receiving legal information, the municipality had it surveyed in 2011.

Amid controversy over the best way to access the lake, Dorey asked in May for a copy of the legal opinion concerning the municipality’s property rights on that road.

The majority of councillors voted not to release that opinion to Dorey, or to discuss it in camera, though Dorey’s lawyer said several councillors have seen the opinion and referred to it in discussions.

In a letter to council, Peter Rogers of the law firm McInnes Cooper writes, “the opinion is clearly relevant to the discharge of Councillor Dorey’s duties as a member of council.”

Rogers said Dorey will abide by solicitor-client privilege that applies to the legal opinion and would not breach any confidentiality.

Rogers wrote, “The right of an individual council member to seek and obtain access to documents within the possession or control of the municipality which relate to the exercise of his council duties is a right which the majority is not entitled to curtail.”

He said a council member is entitled to information he thinks is necessary to formulate a position on an issue.

If council doesn’t hand over the legal opinion to his client, Rogers said he will see if Dorey wants to apply for a court order that, if granted, would demand it provide the documents.

Dorey had planned to present a motion at Tuesday evening’s council meeting that would require councillors be provided with all information they need to effect their decisions.

His motion includes asking for old legal opinions that resulted in the 2011 survey of the access road to Sherbrooke Lake to be given to all councillors “in an appropriate setting determined by council.”

But with Dorey’s agreement, council agreed to delay tabling the motion for no more than two weeks to give the chief administrative officer time to get information that the councillor had suggested he consider.

Mayor Don Downe assured Dorey the issue will be dealt with “within two weeks or earlier.”